Michael Angelo’s

Over the past three years, AMP has partnered with Michael Angelo’s (MAGFI), a traditional family-owned Italian frozen entrees company, to bring a taste of Italy to homes across America. Previous to contracting AMP, MAGFI primarily utilized above the line marketing efforts, through traditional out of home and circular advertisements. MAGFI engaged AMP to help them expand more efficiently in digital channels and in the new markets of Cincinnati, OH and Jacksonville, FL targeting their core audience the 45+year-old, middle-class moms.

THE CHALLENGE:

As Michael Angelo’s Agency of Record, we were challenged to marry the practices of both online and in-store retail marketing, to enter into new markets, including:

Campaign targeting and testing based on market

Drive sales in-store

Build brand awareness and trust among shoppers in new markets

THE INSIGHTS:

Through primary research, AMP helped reveal that convenience, authenticity, and quality were 3 traits that people value in a frozen food selection.

–Authenticity- with a plethora of frozen Italian food options, authenticity of recipes, ingredients, and preparation is crucial for standing out against the competition

-Convenience at the premium- our audience is price sensitive but is willing to spend a few more dollars for high-quality products

-Quality and Organic/ Natural – shoppers are often cautious when purchasing frozen foods as they feel they are filled with chemicals and incorporate fake ingredients. The audience prefers to buy natural products with recognizable, natural ingredients

We utilized these insights to inform our media and creative strategies.

THE SOLUTION:

We started by developing a campaign strategy that was sure to satisfy the appetites of our consumer:

Discovered the Target- Using the insights above, our strategy team identified how the target audience in the key markets consumed media and the best ways to reach them

Implement Media Strategy- We then used the media strategy to advise the most efficient digital placements as well as drive consumers in-store

Encouraged Consideration- connected with consumers, in the new markets, throughout their day across multiple devices, increasing coverage and repeat exposure

Activation- Positioned Michael Angelo’s at the top of the consideration set with point-of-purchase executions

CREATIVE MESSAGING – ‘LESS IS AMORE’

Creatively, we needed to ensure the brand pillars were consistently represented for both audiences. We worked to identify key brand attributes that resonated with both audiences.

SIMPLE, HONEST, PURE are at the core of everything that they do.

The packaging, the main consumer touch point, was the next thing we explored. We brainstormed how we might bring “Simple, Honest, Pure” to life in digital media, OOH, and in-store.

PAID AND EARNED MEDIA

Our media team reviewed the way our target audience in Cincinnati and Jacksonville consumed media. Overall, Jacksonville & Cincinnati residents’ media diet consists of digital, mobile and radio. Therefore, we saw an opportunity to capture the audiences’ attention through the following tactics:

Where She Seeks Inspiration- Day-parting on streaming digital media properties to get our message in front of her during meal prep times

Digital Video/OLA Around Retail- Targeted media by specific individuals who have expressed interest or have demographic, psychographic, and retail location matches, as well as targeted media by inventory

On Freezer and In Aisle- Alternate placement POS that built fresh credentials and drove cross-category purchasing

DISPLAY PARTNERSHIPS

AMP was able to secure a variety of display partnerships with companies like:

Rocketfuel to develop sophisticated targeting which enabled us to hone in on pre-qualified individuals actively showing an interest in the frozen food category and message those who had recently purchased competitor products. We were also able to leverage their cross-channel capability that allowed messaging to be delivered at the right time and lace when prospects were most open to engagement with Michael Angelo’s on the device of their choice. Throughout the duration of the campaign, we were able to optimize toward Mobile, as it was the most cost-effective channel in driving traffic to the Store Locator Page. Finally, media placements drove nearly 49,000 landing page visits, resulting in a cost effective CPV of $0.66

MaxPoint to create dynamic radius targeting allowing us to strategically deliver our messaging to the most responsive neighborhoods within close proximity to key retailers. These media placements drove nearly 10,000 landing page visits in total, resulting in a CPV of $2.43

Pandora to create an audio spot that provided a clean message within the Cincinnati market to a highly engaged audience, as evidenced by a strong CTR of 0.82%, exceeding industry benchmarks by 181%. We were also able to capture our target audience at home and on-the-go via Smart TV, Desktop, Tablet & Mobile listening which achieved zero waste messaging through demo targeting, driving 6,094 visits to the Store Locator page

News America to develop in-store placements to ensure Michael Angelo’s was top of mind at the point of purchase across 326 total stores, encouraging trail among new customers and repeat purchases among the current consumer base. In doing so, Michael Angelo’s garnered estimated 83M+ impressions during the course of the campaign, supplying necessary frequency to build brand awareness and influence trail. Overall, reaching a guaranteed compliance rate of 90%

SEARCH

Overall, our search campaign received 300,000+ impressions across desktop, mobile, and tablet. Complementing the media campaign, Search was able to drive brand awareness by averaging a position of 1.9 within search results for highly relevant non-branded terms. Which drove 1,341 clicks to the Store Locator page during our time in the market. Finally, we found that Michael Angelo’s CTR was highest on mobile devices, which shows that consumers are searching for products on-the-go before they shop.

THE RESULTS

Our work with Michael Angelo’s has helped drive more than a +14% increase in revenue YOY – and grown awareness, consideration, and trial in the new markets and, in doing so, informed Michael Angelo’s retail distribution strategy, packaging, and new product development. We look forward to continuing making strides in the frozen food isle with our partners at Michael Angelo’s.

10,826 total YOY incremental units sold

$52,900 total YOY incremental sales

15M impressions across desktop, tablet, and mobile

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